This invention pertains to a detachable attachment clamp, in particular for harnessing electric wires or other similar elements on vehicles.
It is known that, for attaching bundles of electric wires to vehicle bodies, clamps are used that include a locking element that can be locked to the bundle of wires to be attached and a hooking element that is made integral with the locking element.
The locking element generally consists of a flexible tongue that slides into a seat in the hooking element so as to form with the tongue a ring or bow in which a wire bundle to be attached is secured; the tongue is selectively locked in the seat in progressively tighter insertion positions so as to form by ratcheting means a more or less wide bow with the seat. In this way it is possible to lock wire bundles that contain different numbers of wires, even of widely differing diameters, with equal efficiency.
The hooking element is designed in turn to mate detachably with a support mounted on the vehicle body. The supports that are actually used in vehicles are of two kinds: threaded bolts that are usually welded on the vehicle body projecting outward and that can be detachably inserted into a hooking-element seat that is equipped with ratcheting means (so-called xe2x80x9ctuckersxe2x80x9d), or simple holes that are suitable for detachably receiving appropriate expansion bolts that are integral with the hooking element.
In practice, the wire bundles are preassembled with a number of clamps that are already locked to said bundles and are arranged in preset positions that essentially correspond to the positions of the supports prearranged on the vehicle body, and the wire bundles are then suspended and arranged, whereby they are ultimately locked to the vehicle body by simply forcing the hooking element of each clamp onto a corresponding support on the vehicle body. Nevertheless, the same vehicle can have supports of both kinds described above at the same time, and therefore wiring specialists find it necessary to deal with clamps of two different types that each connect to two different types of supports. This creates handling problems, resulting in high installation costs, even taking into account the fact that the above-mentioned clamps, once locked in position on the wire bundles, can be removed but are no longer usable because, once the locking tongue is locked, the inserted part of the locking tongue is cut and, in any case, the ratcheting means that lock the tongue prevent it from being removed unless it is torn away or severed.
These problems are exacerbated by the fact that, because of working tolerances, the supports that are prearranged on the vehicle body may sometimes not be ideally positioned as called for by the design. Problems like this can also be encountered when attaching other wire-like elements, for instance, tubes, to the vehicle body.
One purpose of this invention is thus to remedy the above-described drawbacks by means of a clamp that can be used equally well on both types of support that exist today and, optionally, on other types of supports that may be available in the future and that also allow the hooking element to move within a circumscribed area relative to the attachment position of the clamp on the wire bundle, i.e., to be able to correct any positioning errors either of the clamps or of the supports on the vehicle body, all the while reducing basic production costs, ensuring a compact design, and providing greater ease of installation.
The invention is based on a clamp, especially for attaching electric wires to a vehicle body, whereby said clamp includes a locking element and an element for hooking to a support and whereby the hooking element is made integral with the locking element; characterized by the fact that the locking element is equipped with first and second hooking means that are different and are mounted on opposite sides of the hooking element; and by the fact that, in combination, the locking element includes a pair of jaws that are arranged facing one another and, on either side, are made integral with the hooking element and detachable locking means for connecting the jaws together in a working position in which the jaws lie essentially parallel and are arranged abutting against one another.
In particular, the jaws expand laterally and overlap the hooking element, to which they are attached by plastic hinges that are designed in such a way as to allow the jaws to selectively assume a working position and an at-rest position, in which the jaws are expanded to form a V-shaped opening in order to allow a number of mating elements that are to be locked to be inserted between said jaws.
In this way, the same clamp can be attached equally well to either of the two different kinds of supports simply by rotating the clamp 180xc2x0 so as to put the hooking element in the appropriate position, thus allowing the clamp to close on the elements to be locked (wires or tubes) in the same position and on the same side of the hooking element in every case. Moreover, because of the above-mentioned structure, it is also possible to make small adjustments to the position of the hooking element relative to the locking element, whereby said adjustments are made possible by the presence of the above-mentioned plastic hinges. This makes it possible to correct any minor positioning errors either of the clamp itself on the elements to be attached, for example, a bundle of electric wires, that can thus be pre-wired at low cost, or of the supports on the vehicle body.
Finally, the clamp that is the object of the invention can easily be produced as a single piece by molding and injecting a plastic.